The present invention is directed to an improved financial transaction card, particularly a secure card, and a method of making the same. The financial transaction card has a clear scratch resistant metallic surface with graphics printed thereon and meets ANSI/ISO specifications.
The problems encountered in attempting to provide a financial transaction card which has an attractive scratch resistant metallic surface with printed graphics thereon are discussed in the introduction portion of assignee""s U.S. Pat. No. 4,897,533. These problems include breakage of the thin metallized surface and/or lack of clarity in the over-laminate. Conventional offset lithography printing of a thin metallized surface on a thin plastic substrate such as a financial transaction card has also not been practical, especially in an automated process, since the details of the graphics, e.g., fine lines, etc., tend to blur.
The difficulties in making such a card are increased where a security feature involving printing additional security graphics is desired, making it more difficult to meet ANSI/ISO specifications for resistance to delamination. There is a need for an improved financial transaction card and a method of making the card wherein the card has an attractive foil face having graphics printed thereon which card can meet ANSI/ISO specifications for a secure card and at the same time permits the use of either offset litho press and/or silkscreen printing process for printing on the foil face.
This need is addressed by the method of the present invention for making a foil faced financial transaction card having graphics printed thereon. The method comprises providing a plastic substrate layer and a metal containing foil layer having a front surface with a printable top coat layer thereon. The metal containing foil layer is mounted by way of its back surface on a surface of the substrate layer. A layer of adhesive is applied to the printable top coat layer of the foil layer. Front graphics are printed on the front surface of the adhesive layer. A clear protective overlay is provided on the front surface of the adhesive layer over the graphics thereon. The card meets ANSI/ISO specifications for the characteristics of a financial transaction card. That is, the component layers of material that form the foil faced card are bonded to one another to the extent that any layer possesses a minimum peel strength of 3.4 lbf/in to resist delamination of the card.
In the disclosed embodiment, the method further comprises printing enhanced security graphics over the front graphics on the adhesive layer. The first graphics printed on the front surface of the adhesive layer can be printed using an offset litho press and/or silkscreen printing process. The front graphics are preferably printed on the adhesive layer using ultraviolet curable ink which is cured immediately after printing by exposure to ultraviolet light.
The method of the disclosed embodiment further comprises providing a second plastic substrate layer for the back of the card, printing graphics on one side thereon, collating the printed substrate layers with respect to clear plastic overlays and laminating the layers to bond the same to one another. The laminating is performed in a platen press under controlled conditions of temperature, pressure and cycle time of the platen press.
The improved foil faced financial transaction card of the invention has graphics printed thereon and, as stated above, the card meets ANSI/ISO specifications for the characteristics of a financial transaction card. This is the case even where the card includes enhanced security graphics printed over the front graphics on the adhesive layer. The card can also be embossed with letters and/or numerals, the tops of the embossed letters and/or numerals having tipping foil applied thereto. Additional security features, including a hologram and a tamper-proof signature panel can be hot stamped on the card while retaining the necessary structural integrity of the card to meet the ANSI/ISO specifications. The back of the card includes a magnetic stripe thereon in the disclosed embodiment.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the disclosed embodiment taken with the accompanying drawings.